ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, March 25, 1997 TAG: 9703250111
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: C-6 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: THE WASHINGTON POST
Audits of some tax-exempt conservative groups have led commentators and members of Congress to wonder if the IRS is picking certain targets.
Leaders of Congress' Joint Committee on Taxation said Monday the panel is launching an investigation into charges that the Internal Revenue Service has engaged in politically motivated audits of certain tax-exempt groups and some individual taxpayers.
The probe will be ``wide-ranging'' and investigators ``will go where the leads take them,'' said a spokesman for Rep. Bill Archer, R-Texas, chairman.
At issue primarily is the treatment of some tax-exempt conservative groups, a number of which have said publicly that they are being audited. This has led conservative commentators to ask whether they are singled out for their political views.
A letter to committee staff signed by Archer, vice chairman Sen. William Roth Jr., R-Del., as well as the ranking Democrats, Sens. Daniel Moynihan and Charles Rangel of New York, termed the allegations ``very serious'' and said they ``should be carefully reviewed as expeditiously as possible.''
The letter calls for ``an analysis of the selection of ... tax-exempt organizations for audit for reasons related to their alleged political or lobbying activities.''
A Moynihan spokesman said the senator ``feels we need to get all the facts out, and the joint committee is an appropriate forum to do that.''
The issue of political audits has heated up in recent weeks.
The IRS has launched a stepped-up enforcement effort against tax-exempt groups that may be engaging in political activities. The agency cited news accounts of some groups' activity as suggesting possible violations.
In response to ``allegations, innuendos and suggestions'' that have been circulating, IRS Commissioner Margaret Milner Richardson last month called on Archer and Roth to grant the agency a waiver from privacy laws so it could provide the House Ways and Means and Senate Finance committees taxpayer information and ``demonstrate the IRS's fair, impartial and nonpartisan enforcement of the internal revenue laws.''
She also asked to ``explore'' having the joint committee authorize public release of some taxpayer information ``to correct misstatements of fact.''The Archer spokesman said that request will not be granted and Richardson's proposal is ``superseded'' by the new probe.
LENGTH: Medium: 52 linesby CNB